Follow our step-by-step guide to find out why your business should be reducing carbon emissions, and how to go about it

The Climate Change Act 2008 commits the UK to reduce emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 from a baseline of 1990. This long term target is supported by a series of five-year carbon budgets, and by 2020 the UK has committed to reduce its emissions by 34 per cent.

In April 2010 the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme was introduced to support emission reductions by businesses. One of the aims of the scheme is to raise awareness of climate change at senior management level and encourage behavioural change.

The scheme affects large public and private sector organisations such as supermarkets, hotels, banks and local authorities. While business travel is outside of the scheme's boundaries, it raises the profile of reporting and managing emissions from all areas of business operations.

“The way that we travel to work and at work has a pivotal role to play in reducing the UK’s emissions,” explains Jonathan Green, associate in JMP Consultants. “A number of pioneering businesses are already realising that carbon management can lead to a greater understanding of how their organisations use, procure and manage travel. They, in turn, are realising efficiency savings and smarter working practices.” Read on for JMPs five-step summary to support you in finding your starting point and establish carbon management as a key performance indicator.

STEP 1: Engage with internal stakeholders. Establish whether your organisation is already reporting a carbon footprint and whether a climate change strategy has been developed. Colleagues in human resources, finance, corporate responsibility or audit may be able to provide information on policies or commitments that could inform your approach to business travel. To make change happen, support and agreement from colleagues is essential. In this stage you are building your knowledge base and establishing a network of contacts that can offer advice in the future.

STEP 2: Find your starting point and establishing a vision. Trade associations such as the ITM may provide a useful insight into how others are approaching the climate change agenda and reporting emissions. Once you have an under-standing of stakeholder expectations, and how competitors and pioneers are responding, then you can set about developing a realistic vision for your organisation. In this stage you are mapping out stakeholders expectations, starting to understand the potential impacts of revising travel programmes and developing a case for change.

STEP 3: Define boundaries and choose carbon metrics. Decide from which parts of the business emissions should be calculated. This can be complex and it is advisable to re-engage with stakeholders identified in Step 1 who can advise on the best approach. Calculating emissions from all modes of business travel, including air and rail, vehicles (including owned, leased, hire and private cars) and other types of public transport is seen as best practice. There is also a growing appetite to include hotels, meetings and commuter travel in carbon reports. The government has issued corporate carbon reporting conversion factors which can be found on the Defra website – there are a range out there, but these are government endorsed and the most widely used in the UK. In this stage you are setting out the core principles and ensuring these align with wider business objectives.

STEP 4: Establish a baseline and source the data to ensure emissions can be measured and performance understood. The baseline should be representative of your organisation's activities and be a comprehensive account of all business travel emissions. Suppliers, including TMCs and SBTs, are now providing emissions reports. Vehicle data can also be sourced from suppliers, but information may also be held by colleagues in finance and HR. In this stage you are generating data that allows you to understand how emissions can be managed and reduced.

STEP 5: Carbon reporting. Stake-holders are seeking to compare and contrast performance and identify leaders which can lead to positive PR. Carbon reports should be consistent, transparent and accurate. A written statement explaining the methodology used to calculate and report emissions and any future targets or activities is best practice. The report also helps you engage with internal and external stakeholders and communicate any further targets or activities. To make change happen you need senior management support and buy-in from your travellers. Once these five steps are underway you can start implementing measures to improve the carbon efficiency of your travel programme and report savings – both financial and carbon – to management teams. Set specific, short-term and achievable targets to start with and build from this foundation.

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